Before every spacewalk, astronauts perform a quiet, unhurried ritual — breathing pure oxygen for an hour while the world outside waits. The practice exists to close a gap that physics opens without mercy: the difference in pressure between a spacecraft cabin and a spacesuit is wide enough to pull dissolved nitrogen out of human tissue and into dangerous bubbles. Decades of aerospace medicine research have refined this protocol into something so reliable that the peril it prevents has become, for all practical purposes, invisible — which is precisely the measure of its success.
Space Daily
· Aug 26, 2026
· technology
· 4 min read
High
Sourcing: Verified
Why Astronauts Breathe Pure Oxygen Before Every Spacewalk
◉
Science & Space
7155 related articles
NASA Launches Artemis II: Four Astronauts Head to Moon in Historic Mis…
Devdiscourse · 100% match
NASA study finds Earth microbes could survive on Moon's South Pole, co…
Texas Public Radio | TPR · 99% match
Blue Origin Probed Over Rocket Failure as Mars Rover Finds Organic Com…
Devdiscourse · 99% match
Israeli radiation vest shows promise for safer deep-space missions
jns.org · 99% match
Starship's Raw Power Masks Mars Challenge: Orbital Refueling Still Unp…
Space Daily · 99% match
Related Coverage
News-Medical · Aug 27
Dysfunctional brain cells linked to age-related cognitive decline in landmark study
Research reveals that faulty oligodendrocytes with reduced NRF2 expression contribute to cognitive aging through abnorma…
The Times of India · Aug 27 Scientists reveal 'junk' DNA acts as chromosome barcode during reproductionResearchers discovered that satellite DNA, long dismissed as evolutionary clutter, functions as a barcode enabling chrom…
News-Medical · Aug 27 Men reject traditional diets as restrictive, female-focused: studyA UK study finds men avoid weight-loss programs perceived as restrictive and female-oriented, with 70% of English men ov…
News-Medical · Aug 27 Maternal immune response to UTI, not bacteria, drives preterm birth riskNew research shows maternal immune response to urinary tract infections, not the bacteria itself, drives preterm birth r…
Bias & Framing
⚖
Factual, technical explanation of spacewalk oxygen protocols with minimal bias; straightforward science communication without apparent advocacy or political framing.
Bias Direction
center
Confidence
HIGH
Educational/explanatory framing using accessible analogies (shaken soda) to demystify technical aerospace physiology for general audiences; relies on expert authority (NASA physiologist, retired astronaut) to establish credibility.
Historical context on decompression sickness incidents or near-misses that motivated protocol development
International space agency perspectives (Roscosmos, ESA, CNSA protocols for comparison)
Astronaut personal experiences or anecdotes about the pre-breathe procedure
Counterarguments or alternative approaches considered and rejected by NASA
Cost-benefit analysis or time/resource trade-offs of the one-hour protocol
Geopolitical Impact
🌎
Technical article on spacewalk safety protocols; no geopolitical implications identified.
Escalation Risk
low
Confidence
HIGH
Economic Lens
📈
Spacewalk safety protocol using pre-breathing pure oxygen has minimal direct economic impact but demonstrates aerospace industry's investment in worker safety standards and medical research applications.
Market Signal
neutral
Confidence
MED
Aerospace and defense
Medical devices and equipment
Occupational health and safety
Space tourism (emerging)
Indirect consumer benefit through improved space industry safety standards that may eventually influence commercial spaceflight safety protocols and insurance costs as space tourism expands.
Reinforces regulatory frameworks for human spaceflight safety; establishes precedent for occupational health protocols in extreme environments; potential application to emerging commercial space activities and regulatory requirements for private space companies.